Chaplain Fisher

Its been a great month! I was talking to Sara not long ago and noting that I find its a lot more difficult to come up with interesting posts this tour than last. I think the reason for this is three-fold:

 

1. I'm not a rookie in the chaplain/army business any more. I'll have been at this for four years come September and not that much is "new" any more. On my last deployment, every day would bring a new idea, new verbiage, and new experiences into my life - stuff I HAD to share! Now, I pretty much have the job down (not to a science yet, but getting there) and whatever "new" things I run into, are not actually that interesting.

 

2. This environment is very different from my last one. In my last deployment, I was ministering in a very traumatic environment - not only for my troops but for me as well. I spent a great deal of time off the FOB in the combat environment but this time, its basically a garrison environment that does not change all that much. Given that we are an Aviation Support Battalion, all our work is maintenance, warehouse or other support functions and not many in my BN do "out the wire" missions so my days are VERY similar. In fact, unlike last tour, I fight the "groundhog day syndrome" daily...

 

3. I am just not as into writing as I have been in the past. I don't really know how to explain it. I sit down to write and nothing interesting jumps to my mind! Its not writer's block, I write all the time for other things, but I just don't have a lot to say I guess. Who knows, maybe it'll pass...

 

In the mean time, I've been passing time that I would otherwise be writing reading:

 

Besides several novels, I've polished off some amazing non-fiction to include (finally finishing) Evil and the Justice of God by NT Wright and, most recently, The Myth of a Christian Nation, by Greg Boyd. This last book is a challenging look at the "civic religion" that Christianity in America has become. I would highly recommend for any Christian looking to understand the place of their faith in public practice.

 

The challenge presented to me is - can I love my enemies? I mean, if I ran into an insurgent who placed the IED that killed my soldiers - could I love and serve them? I am convinced that service and the Gospel go hand in hand. Its not that we serve so that we have an opportunity to present the Gospel - its that the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented IN our service! When I bleed for others, when I sacrifice for them, I exemplify Christ. My father-in-law, a pastor in rural Indiana, recently went through a flood with his city. No one came to their aid. In service to Christ - with no pretentions of "souls saved" his church (in unity with another denomination) bore the burdens of the town and "so fulfilled the law of Christ." That is Christ love - that is Christianity.

 

From The Myth of a Christian Nation, "Doing the kingdom always requires that we bleed for others, and for just this reason, doing the kingdom accomplishes something kingdom-of-the-world activity can never accomplish. It may not immediately adjust people's behavior, but this is not what it seeks to accomplish. Rather, it transforms people's hearts and therefore transforms society." (pg.116)

 

How can I serve others? How can I show the love of Christ in this camp? How can I show Christ's love?

 

Christians are not know for their radical, self-sacrificial love. I'm sorry, I do not mean to preach - I am not known for my self-sacrificial love. Is my calling in this world to fix all the moral problems or to love others? Is my calling to vote Christians into public office or to show Christ's love to others? Is my calling to push a radical, America serving agenda, or is my job to love others? Is my calling to play moral guardian of a secular society or to love as Christ? Is my calling to be a sin-pointer-outer or is my job to love others?

 

I suppose some would argue that in confronting sin we are loving others - tough love - right? Besides the Jewish authorities, when did Christ do this? Jesus, a Jewish prophet in a Jewish world, rightly pointed out the problems of the Jewish religious leadership - when did he say anything about the unjust, corrupt, decadent Roman authority? He said to "love your enemies" - love - when these same Christians would soon be fed to lions for sport....

 

I don't love like that. I'm quite sure I can't. I know that such love needs the transformational power of the Christ through the Holy Spirit. Its deeper than a systematic theology, its deeper than a dogma or tradition - its has to come from deep with in is.

 

I want to want to love.

 

Again, Boyd, "Above all we are to love. Everything we do is to be done in love and, thus, communicate love. We are to imitate God by living Christ like love, and if we do this we fulfill the whole law. If we lack this, everything else we do is devoid of kingdom value, however impressive it might otherwise be. Not only this but God has leveraged the expansion of this Kingdom on the church loving like Christ loves. By God's own design, the corporate "body of Christ" is to grow as the corporate body does exactly what the incarnate body of Christ did - dying for those that crucified him.

 

For the church to lack love is for the church to lack everything. No heresy could be worse!" (pg. 134)

 

Love - not "tough love" or "confrontational love" but honest, unconditional, Christ-like love. Love with no borders, colors, creeds, belief structures, strings or money.

 

Love.

 

Yeah, that kind of love is a lot harder than forwarding an email or sticking a sign in your yard. Its harder than putting money in an offering plate or having conversations about the degradation of culture. This kind of love demands that I give of myself. Give of my family. Give of my life. Its hard.

 

But I've been called to it. I've been commanded to love - John says, "a new commandment I give you - love one another..." Its been personified in the love that loved while the nails were driven into the hands of the lover. Love is the glory of God, expressed by the Word given to mankind.

 

At least its hard for me. You might be beyond that already. Perhaps you could share your secret as to how you came to that...

 

Every day, I pray that God will help me love soldiers. But you know, I already do, I already love them - how do I love my enemies?

 

Maybe the reason we have such a hard time as Christians loving our enemies is because we find it so hard to love our brothers and sisters in Christ - but that would be a bit much to ask wouldn't it....

 

I love you.

 

God helping me...

 

 

Three years. Three Aniversaries. One together.

Charlston.

The crapy apartment in Cedar Springs.

The Cabin on the River where you could hear the traffic and the fireplace belched smoke.

Skype.

Messenger.

Packages from you.

Church Hopping.

Sunday Afternoons.

Used Bookstores.

Waffle House.

Hours of Conversation.

Understanding.

Love.

Sophia.

Us.

Three Years.

I hope it never ends.

Happy Anniversary my love.

In the new world of "Support Battalion" I find that I have a lot more time to read than I ever thought I would. Indeed, I have rediscovered the "non-required-for-some-degree-non-fiction" book. Last week I finished, "Making Globalism Work" - that was streaching. You know, you need to read a book that streches you from time to time. I certainly did not agree with the all the conclusions the author came to but I certainly can see a different side to the whole globalsim debate now. After a heavy read on global economics - one needs a rollicking good tale, I chose "Vagabond" about the Hundred Years War by Bernard Cornwall. Ahh....

 

In the mean time, Check out this article in the Washington Post entitled, "Greed in the Name of Green." I loved it! I found it by reading this commentary on it at the Sojo blog. Man, if keep reading this stuff I'm gonna end up some kind of peace-loving liberal... or something...

 

Maybe I'll just settle for independent. And a Christian. Maybe no tags at all. mmm, wouldn't that be nice...

 

Who knows.

 

Enjoy the article - I did - its wickedly caustic. My favorite...

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RADIO SILENCE LIFTED

 

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SORRY FOR NOT POSTING....

 

Greetings from the one the only Camp Striker, Iraq!

When Sara and I got married, she introduced me to the postmodern concept of the meta-narrative. The prefix "meta" means "beyond"- and we all know that a "narrative" is a story- so the meta-narrative of Scripture is the bigger story of God's workings. The individual stories weave together, giving insight into the larger narrative. It looks at the Bible not as a collection of independent stories nor as a system of theology, but as one overarching story - a story with many interpretations and applications.

It has become my favorite style of preaching. I love to just tell Bible stories when I preach and hope that the congregation experiences the Bible the way I have started to. This year Sara bought me "The Message" (a paraphrase of Scripture as rendered by Eugene Peterson), and I am reading through the Bible as a story. As I read, I am thoroughly enamored with the characters I am meeting. As I read, I read into the character common emotions and reactions - they were after all not super spiritual giants but common folk experiencing life not essentially unlike ours. For instance, what if (and I fully understand that I am reading into Scripture here - but what preacher doesn't read his own personality into the Word?) what if Joseph was not the uber spiritual, squeaky clean Mike Huckabee of the Bible - what if he was just the spoiled rotten son of the favorite wife of a very wealthy man? If you were his brother and he decided to tell you at the breakfast table how you and all the rest of his brothers were just going to serve him? How would you feel if you worked hard for your father's affection and it all went to the baby of the family who never worked a day in his life? I mean, what if Joseph was a jerk and it took getting thrown into Pharaoh's dungeon to straiten him out? (I understand that there are passages that demonstrate the Joe was a man of character - Potifar's wife is a prime example but still...) I tell ya - its way fun!

At any rate - my favorite story in the Bible is the story of David's ascension to the throne of Israel, his military conquests, and rein as king. I like to call him the Godfather of Israel. I mean, you gotta love it - here's this bastard son of a marginal man who is chosen because of his love for God who has the guts and patriotism to stand up to the biggest, most hardcore dude the Philistines can bring up - totally gangster. Then, he runs to the hills, leads this band of outlaws, debtors, scrappy men and their families as a para-military, mercenary force to be reckoned with! He has a temper, loves beautiful women, (come on - you KNOW that one is true - every time he meets a woman, she gets her way! Abigale, Bathsheba...), has strong code of ethics (well, except where women were concerned), is loved by his men (I love the story where he is out in the field running from Saul and he is reminiscing around the fire with his band of merry men. He remembers a well from his childhood and speaks fondly of it - his boys hear that and decide to sneak behind enemy lines just to bring their leader some water from that well. When they bring it back to him, he is so moved that he offers it as a sacrifice. I love it!), and has a tender heart toward God. He's a man's man, a warrior's warrior - he lives life the extreme - he is passionate, almost to a fault. He is a man who has to learn the hard way - just like me.

I love to tell his story to soldiers cause he is one of us. He's the leader we all want. I love the characters - his warlord, Joab. The man who kills for David so he doesn't have to get his hands dirty. Joab is so hardcore that when David is on his deathbed and calls Solomon to him, he tells him to make sure he kills Joab! No one but David can control him! Think of David's kids - David, like many soldiers, is extremely good at soldiering, but has a hard time disciplining his kids and has to pay for it - dearly. I mean, it goes on and on.

All that to say that last night, I found myself telling the story again. One of my soldiers asked me for a Bible and I dropped by the Chapel here at the Camp and picked him up one. When I gave it to him, I asked him what he wanted to read in the Bible - he didn't really know. Someone has told him to start with John but mostly, he found that the Bible didn't have much to do with him - he just felt that he should read it.

So I just started telling him stories. I told him the story of David. He looked at me and said, "that's in there?" For an hour I just told him stories from the OT about the Kings and Judges - it was so much fun. Later, I saw him reading the OT.

We'll get to Jesus tonight...

Sophia smiled at me.

It was beautiful. I've been waiting for weeks for that smile.

Understand, she's been smiling - that, "I have gas real bad and its making me grimace" smile - but its been a smile all the same. Today was different, today, as I was getting ready to leave, she looked up at her dad and smiled... and smiled. She smiled all morning. It was just about the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.

Then Sara took her to the sitters while I finished packing.

Yup, I've landed. I've been in Kuwait for two days now. Camp Buehring is much improved since the last time I was here but at the same time, its exactly the same. Same smell, same blowing wind, same miserable sand. Other than that - its more or less cool. I'm in the USO here and its great! Outside the tent, there is a sandstorm going strong, visibility is about at a quarter mile which is not bad. I met the Post chaplain today and had lunch with the RC Priest and his assistant. They've been very hospitable.

Some thoughts on getting ready to deploy... again...

Communication: Historically, whenever I have been getting ready to do something significant (whether that be an athletic event, theatre, or some singing event) I generally become very quiet and introspective. Sometimes people will think me depressed or even angry since I'm not generally like that. Knowing this about myself, I've tried to avoid that this time. Its one thing to be like that when your single - but I have others to think about this time. Deployment is no different. However, I am different. Honestly, its been less like that than I thought it would be. I thought I would have to fight harder to stay chipper but I'm just a happier person now that I was then. In fact, I have never been happier! I know, I know, I'm sure there are those just shaking their heads - but seriously, this last year has been the best year of my life. Having that peace at home makes something like this SO much easier to deal with.

That said, Sara and I have certainly been proactive in ensuring that we communicate well. To do this, we generally ask very specific questions - side note: other couples may have time to develop non-verbal communication skill and thus have the expectations that go with that but we don't have that kind of time. I teach soldiers this all the time - you can't expect your spouse to know how you feel or how to respond to him/her unless you tell them! Sara and I met, fell in love, married and worked out our differences in a world where words were all we had! If I felt it - I had to tell her - one can't communicate emotion in an email... - our specific questions revolve around how we feel, what are expectations are (or look like) and what we need out of the other person.

Many times, we don't really know what to expect in a given situation and just the process of thinking through the answer to a question usually helps us to figure that out. In the last month, we would sit down, and look at our schedule to understand what the week would look like, and then she might ask me what she could do to help me have a calmer week. I might ask her what I could do to maximize our quality time. Asking specific questions and having an honest, well thought through answer has done more for our marriage than any book or conference! (Those have certainly helped to!)

A key question that we will ask each other will have to do with expectations. Sometimes, you have to be creative with the question in order to get the information you are looking for. For instance, in getting ready for the big day (the day we went to the airport and Sara dropped me off) we asked each other how we envisioned that day - what does that moment look like. Most people have an idea (whether they have thought through it or not) of what a given situation will "look like." Redeployment is a prime example of this - some folks see the image of the famous kiss in NYC as what redeploment will "look like," others might see it as just getting off the plane, grabbing their gear and celebrating once they get into some civilian clothes. Every part of that process is the same way. I often counsel soldiers to think in terms of, "how do you see yourself disciplining your children when you get home?" "Have you talked to your wife about that?"

We also ask each other to "list the top three things you want to do when you come home" or something like that. Being specific in our questions and answers have contributed greatly to being able to meet and exceed expectations.

Gear: This time, I had a much better idea of what to take. The only big purchases were another computer (We've been replacing our (ok, my) collection of various computers with two laptops. Its vital to be operating off the same system. In our case, we both use Macbooks with built in webcams and microphones. To this I added a Pelican computer case, Pelican ipod case and a garmin wind up SW radio. Oh, and I also bought a cheap pair of noise canceling headphones - believe me, from the noise of the aircraft to the chorus of snores in the 70 man tent - they have been invaluable!!!

Expectations: On this note, I mentioned to Sara that we should be prepared for Muphy's Law to be in great effect during the last few days before departure.

And it was.

On Friday, the day before I was supposed to leave, we set off early to get to Hunter Army Airfield where I was to register my gear. On the way, I realized that I had forgotten my ID card (you can't get on base without it) keep in mind that hunter is an hour's drive from my house... It kept up all day long finishing with the DVD that we rented didn't work in our cheap DVD player... 

To top it off, right about Ireland, I started thinking about hitting the gym when I got to Kuwait - and then realized that I had forgotten to pack my sneakers.... nice...

So there you have it. First post from overseas...

I've decided to call this deployment (in the categories area):

Iraq: Part Dux...

 

I bought a new guitar today. Its the first guitar I have bought in about five years. I just couldn't bear to take the 'ole Takamine back to the desert. I think one trip is about all old reliable could take.

This trip I had a better idea of what I needed in a guitar:

1. It had to be a hearty, rugged, hard-as-nails body.
2. Decent sound but could plug in. It also has to have some sound quality not plugged in but I usually have some kind of PA to plug into so thats important. Sound is actually second to being rugged.
3. Needs to be thinner. My Takamine G-Series is a full sized dreadnought cutaway and it was just a bear to take it anywhere. I was planning on taking a gig bag this time and just mailing it back like I did the T last time.
4. It has to look cool. This actually should be first I think...
5. Oh, and most important - had to cost less than 200 bones. That was my budget.

So, I looked and looked and finally settled on *gasp* a plastic guitar... I know, I know, I feel like I gave up my religion or something but I did in fact buy a rounded, composite back guitar.

My dad found this guy on the net who calls himself the Indiana Guitar Man. He has a great deal on the guitar and if you are an Active Duty soldier (on an Activated Reservist) they will ship the guitar to your APO FOR FREE!! Yup, free. And free is always better!!!

I was so impressed I broke my own rule and decided to put in a plug for this guy. He really loves the Troops and puts his money where his mouth is. Good for him!

Incidentally, the one I got was natural. This is the sunburst version.

Those three words that mean so much to an reservist... only, these are different, they mean I'm not a reservist any more. 

Josh and Amy were down for the weekend and we had a BLAST!! While they were down, Amy used her sweet camera to take some new family pictures of us - you can find the album here at growing up fisher. 

Here we are in 08!